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<br />000293 <br /> <br />Project Settinf! <br /> <br />Title I Of The Act <br /> <br />Title I of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act authorized the Secretary of the <br />Interior to implement measures needed to enable the United States to comply with its <br />obligations under Minute 242. Under those authorities, the Secretary has constructed the <br />YDP and the Bypass Drain. In addition, other related program,s were authorized, including ~. <br />programs to reduce the volume of agricultural drainage water that the plant would treat, al <br />program of research to reduce YDP reject stream volume by improving YDP desalting f <br />process efficiency, measures to manage flood control at Painted Rock Dam and Reservoir i <br />on the Gila River, and a program to manage groundwater pUmping in the United States <br />along the Arizona/Sonora Boundary, south of Yuma, Arizona. <br /> <br />The Secretary also was authorized to construct a parallel lined canal to replace the first 49 <br />miles of the unlined Coachella Canal, a feature of the All American Canal System, Boulder <br />Canyon Project. The Coachella Canal Lining ro Iv ed about 132,000 acre-fe <br />~ater per ~r, which was avai a e 0 offset the reject stream and other flows III the bypass <br />drain until the State of California needed the salvaged water for its own purposes. T!J-e <br />1974 Act provided that when the Secreta denied re uest eliver all water ordered b <br />California Colorado River salva ed u lining the oachella Canal <br />would become available to th te of Califo . and would no longer be usable y the <br />Unite States as a part of the salinity control program. Early this year the Secretary <br />declined some California water orders. Therefore, water salvaged through lining the <br />Coachella Canal is no longer available to the United States to offset flows in the Bypass <br />Drain.4 <br /> <br />The Act declared the replacement of the reject stream and other operational bypasses to be <br />a National obligation. This national replacement obligation was conditioned upon later <br />findings of feasibility and Congressional authorization under Section 202 of the Colorado <br />River Basin Project Act. To date, no feasible replacement measures to replace both the <br />reject stream and other operational bypasses have been identified or authorized. <br /> <br />Requirements Under Minute No. 242 <br /> <br />The Commissioners of the U.S. and Mexican Sections ofthe International Boundary and <br />Water Commission approved Minute No, 242, on August 30, 1973. The Minute, by its <br />nature, amended the provisions of the 1-944 Mexican Water Treaty when approved by the <br />governments of both countries. <br /> <br />The agreed upon salinity management objective was to remove the influence of the <br />Wellton-Mohawk Division saline agricultural drainage water from the water delivered to <br /> <br />4 It should be noted that provisions ofthe Energy and Water Appropriations Act for Fiscal year 2002 revised <br />the fmancial terms of the Coachella Canal Lining program. Therefore, although the United States no longer <br />has the use of the conserved water, the non-Federal repayment of the cost of the lining program has not <br />begun. <br /> <br />11 <br />